


three times doc roe denied he had a gift (and how during that one third time he was forced to face the truth)

by hlundqvists



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 20:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hlundqvists/pseuds/hlundqvists
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"There was a slight pause before Babe spoke in a soft tone, his fingers curling around the front of Eugene's uniform. "You don't even realize that gift you've got, do you? You're special, Doc. You've got a magic touch, a healin' touch.</i>."</p>
<p>In which Eugene denies the truth of his gift until Babe makes him come around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	three times doc roe denied he had a gift (and how during that one third time he was forced to face the truth)

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little something that I wrote a year ago for one of my darling friends, Michelle, and now I'm finally posting it here. Enjoy~

_three times doc roe denied he had a gift (and how during that one third time he was forced to face the truth)_

**one**

He's jolted awake by the sudden cries for a medic. Scrambling out of the foxhole, Doc Roe pushes himself to his feet and starts running towards the sounds of the cries. He ignores the sound of bullets flying by and focuses on finding the wounded who need his help, who he might be able to save.

He stumbles and drops to his knees once he reaches the soldiers who were crying out for help. He barely glances at the ones looking at him with panic plain to see on their faces and he only recognizes Liebgott's face as he asks what happened, where the man writhing in pain was hit.

Eugene doesn't remember the name of the wounded man, he's too new. Still just a replacement. One of the soldiers who still hasn't found his place within Easy Company. The man is crying, begging and pleading for his life. Eugene's hands move across the fabric of the man's shirt, tearing it open where the blood is soaking through and lets out a quick sigh of relief when he can see that it's not as bad as it looks.

Asking Liebgott to hand him some bandages, Eugene spreads some sulfa onto the wound before wrapping it tightly. He places a hand on the man's cheek, whispering softly, "You're gonna be alright. Hush now. It's not that bad. You'll be fine."

The man closes his eyes, the pleas for mercy stopping as he licks his lips and draws in a shaky breath. As he calms down, Eugene nods to Liebgott and together they carry the man back to safety.

Later, as they stand in line for food, Liebgott will speak softly to the Doc, telling him how he's never seen anything like that before. "Anythin' like what?" Eugene asks him, his brow furrowing in confusion. "You know, the way you calmed that poor fucker down earlier. All you had to do was lay your damn hands on him and it was like he was healed."

Eugene presses his lips together in a fine line and shakes his head, telling Liebgott that it wasn't anything he did. "It was probably just the morphine kicking in. Nothin' any more special than that."

Liebgott shakes his head, lips quirking up a bit. "You didn't give him any morphine, Doc."

Eugene simply doesn't reply to that.

**two**

He never expected to meet someone like Renee during the war.

She quickly became the best part of his day, even though the reason he was going to see her was far from pleasant.

Eugene quickly learned to enjoy the quiet moments he could spend with her, sitting outside the hospital. Talking about their lives, exchanging stories in a mixture of English and French.

He was in awe of her, respected her for the gift that she clearly had. The gift she didn't want to have.

It had been a long day, a hard day and Eugene was facing a tear-stained face, a tired-looking face, a face that was pleading for some end. Renee bit down on her bottom lip, holding back a sob and looked away from Eugene.

Reaching out, he gently wiped away her tears and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. 

Sighing softly, Renee closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, her posture becoming relaxed. "I'm not the one with the special gift, Eugene. It's you."

He shook his head, drawing his hand back as someone called his name in the distance.

"I'm not anythin' special."

Renee smiled sadly and handed over half of a chocolate bar.

"But you are."

He took the chocolate and left, hurrying to catch a ride back to the front.

The next time Eugene went into town, Renee was gone.

He tried to ignore the memory of her words, shaking his head as he silently denied what she had told him.

**three**

He had spent the whole day searching for Babe. Worry for the man was gnawing away at his mind. Eugene had seen what happened to men who had to leave their friends behind too many times. It wasn't something he wished upon anyone. The breakdown that was experienced. It wasn't meant for young men to go through.

Eugene had tried to keep himself from growing close to any of the men in the company but, his strife was in vain. He had met Edward 'Babe' Heffron and everything that he told himself flew out the window. Babe was one of the very few who could make Eugene smile that small, barely there smile. He made Eugene feel at peace, even if it lasted for the briefest of seconds before the guns started shooting again.

Now, he wanted to find Babe and help him. He searched and searched until he found the man curled up in Eugene's own foxhole. Dropping down next to him, his brow furrowed as Babe quickly wiped at his eyes, trying to hide his tears.

"Hey, Doc. Whatcha doin' here?"

Eugene bumped his knee lightly against Babe's. "This _is_ my foxhole, isn't it?"

As a faint blush crossed over Babe's cheeks, Eugene reached out to squeeze his elbow lightly. "Hey. I don't mind you staying in here, Edward. You're good company which I could use right now." He doesn't mention the fact that it's really /Babe/ who needs the company and he can tell by the other man's expression that he's thankful for that.

"What'd I tell you 'bout calling me that, Doc? It's Babe. Not Edward. Only the nuns call--"

"-- you Edward. I know. It just keeps slipping my mind."

Babe snorted lightly, keeping his eyes focused on his knees while chewing the corner of his lip. He didn't really know what he was doing here. Sure, he considered Eugene a friend (thinking about it, he was probably Eugene's only friend out of the whole company and wasn't that just a fucking shame?) but why exactly was he here?

Oh.

Right.

Julian.

He tried to push the images from his mind, curling in on himself more and pretended that the choked off sound hadn't come from him. He didn't want to seem so weak to Eugene but the sobs pushed their way up from his soul and out his mouth and he couldn't stop it. Trying to quiet the cries, Babe bit down on his tongue and covered his mouth with a fist. It did little good. His body was shaking too much for Eugene to not notice exactly what was happening. It might Babe feel childish; like he was unworthy of being in the same space as someone like Eugene who was always so cool, calm, and collected when anything went wrong.

Fingers suddenly were slipping under Babe's helmet, pushing into his hair and soft accented words were being murmured into his ear. A calming started to fill Babe's mind and he pushed his head into that touch, pressing into those fingers, seeking more of the calm. He couldn't make out the words being said but they were soft, caring, _loving_ and they were from Eugene. That's all that mattered.

All of this was from Eugene. The best medic in Easy Company.

Shifting in the foxhole, Babe curled against Eugene's side and moved closer, gaining more touch from the Cajun. The sobs stopped after a while, the shaking subsided, and soon there was just Babe and Eugene, holding onto each other and Eugene's quiet prayer filling the still air.

Babe didn't dare say a word until Eugene had grown silent, his prayer finished, his fingers still carding through Babe's short locks.

"Thank you, Eugene."

Eugene made a tiny noise, a grunt of disagreement which he quickly put into words. "You don't have to be thankin' me for anythin', Edward. I didn't do anything."

There was a slight pause before Babe spoke in a soft tone, his fingers curling around the front of Eugene's uniform. "You don't even realize that gift you've got, do you? You're special, Doc. You've got a magic touch, a healin' touch. You put your hands on someone and they immediately feel better, they feel hope and love and believe it's all gonna be okay because you make 'em feel that way. You make _me_ feel that way. That's why I came here. After today with Julian, I couldn't-- I had to come here. To you. You've got a way of makin' it all seem better with just a damn touch of your hands."

By the time Babe stopped talking, Eugene felt as if he had been punched in the gut, all the air sucked out of his lungs. This was /Babe/ saying these things. Babe, the man who would never lie to Eugene. The man who had found a way to break past the barrier Eugene put up and secured a spot in the medic's heart. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? There wasn't much he could because in that moment, bombs begin to fall in the background, jolting both men into an upright sitting position.

Instead of using words, Eugene reached out and curled his fingers around Babe's, squeezing them gently as he murmured. "Thank you, Babe."

He didn't have to look at Babe to see the smile on the other man's face. It was heard clearly enough in his tone. "You finally got it right, Doc. Called me 'Babe'."

"So I did. Do I get a prize for that?"

Fingers squeezed Eugene's softly. "Yeah. Yeah, you do. You get me."

And that was a fair enough prize for Eugene.


End file.
